Marshal Law.
As I sit and witness our government's unwillingness and inability to act - to help these poor people who have been to hell and back... I am wordless. I am completely dumbstruck. I'm shocked, disgusted, and abhorred with this administration and furthermore, as a member of the middle class; as a member of the paycheck-to-paycheck , hand to mouth, pissed-on, pissed-off, piss-poor, cubicle proletariat all I can say is I am scared. I'm petrified. I'm scared my job will invariably be outsourced. I'm scared I won't be able to afford gas. I'm scared I won't see a penny of social security. I'm scared some crazy terrorist prick is going to slit my throat because of the mere fact I'm an American. I'm scared I'm going to get drafted, get sent overseas to kill innocent people in a meaningless, bullshit war...
I ain't no senator's son.
Wanna know what scares me even more?
20,000 desperate, angry people, young and old, crammed into the "Superdome" with no food, no water, no place to shit or piss, and worst of all, no power or lights tonight.
It's a powderkeg and it's ready to blow.
And no, I didn't vote for this motherfucker either, you douche bags. But nice job! You KNEW what you were getting into. You KNEW he would fuck it up yet you still voted him back into office you dumb-ass, redneck, brainwashed, hillbilly assholes.
For Christ's sake turn-off Sean Hannity and start using your heads... use some common sense. Open your eyes. Read the signs, they say "Help Us!"
I can't help but wonder if the California coastline had been struck, say... Hollywood, or the "O.C," or Malibu, or Beverly Hills... would there be more of a sense of urgency? Would the "governator" roll up his sleeves and personally "terminate" hunger, thirst, death, loss, and grief?
I'm sure he would.
The truth of the matter is these unfortunate people are receiving third rate treatment because they're "third-rate citizens." The majority of these displaced souls are poor and black. They're expendable. They're sub-human. In fact, they're "animals."
Wow, this nation has sure come a long way.
Fuck you Bush and FUCK your administration. I realize you're a puppet, a flagrantly stupid puppet at that, and the big-money Texas oil companies, the pharmaceuticals, the lobbyists, the tobacco companies, your buddies the Saudi's, the list goes on and on... are the real villains here.
But then again I could be wrong. I'm a radical what do I know?
22 comments:
Both of you, well said.
I've been ignorant of the true immensity of this until last night and today, and my anger has been steadily growing.
I can't imagine the anger of Americans, nor those in the afflicted regions.
What a fucking crime this is.
My loathing of Bush has long preceded this. I can't imagine how they can sleep tonight, having KNOWN a class-four, minimum, probably a class-five was destined to hit land, yet no national response was even begun until the magnitude began to come to light.
I've put a rant on the Ditch.
I'm so angry I want to cry. All those poor fucking blacks who've been neglected and mistreated for so long, to be reduced to THIS. Fucking refugees in their own nation, their governments dragging their heels before responding.
You fucking bet the response would've been different had it hit California.
Yeah. Progress.
The Last Ditch.
conversation dims --
in the city by the river
there's a girl without a dream
Wednesday Reenactment: Various Convesations . . .
"Hey George, it's Dick."
"Dick! What can I do for you?"
"I have some bad news."
"What's up?"
"We have to cut our vacation time short."
"What?? Why? What happened?"
"Something happened in Louisianna a few days ago - flooding and a whole horde of other things."
"Oh. Wow. Alright - well I guess we could call Congress back in session tomorrow, though they're not going to be happy. It's Labor Day weekend and everything . . ."
"Yeah I know - but this is pretty serious."
"Sure. Ok. I'll fly in to DC tomorrow."
"Ok. Sounds good"
George hangs up and turns to Laura as she's sipping on a glass of Chardonnay and knitting herself a scarf.
"Laura honey, it looks like your man needs to go back to work!"
"Aww. Already?"
"Heh. Yeah. It's hard being a hero."
American People:
"George, don't waste your time. We can get things taken care of without you. We're United like that. . . ."
You all have made some very good points. I think we're all in shock as to what is happening on many different fronts. The thing that has shocked me the most is the apparent breakdown of humanity. When I was a kid and disaster struck (obviously nothing the size of this...) we as neighbors and as human beings banded together and helped out those in need. We did not shoot at each other, rape each other, or steal TVs. There are some people in desparate need of food, water, and medical care, but yet a handful of the people around them have taken this as an opportunity to revert to such lawlessness. This blows my mind.
Steff. I can't imagine the terror a mother, or a father, stuck in the Superdome... desperately trying to blend into the shadows... desperately trying to keep their starving baby silent as not to attract undue attention to themselves... hiding from the men with guns.
Extraspecial. All of the dreams slowly float out to sea.
No_puzzy_4_u. You're right. I slowly see America disintigrating. One day we will wake up and find we are no longer a Superpower.
Colonialave. Did you notice how ZERO countries have offered to help us? Yet America is always EXPECTED to marshall the world? This expectation was self-inflicted. We police the world to pursue our capitalist ventures, not because we particularly give a shit...
do we really fucking care if an insignificant, tiny country like Iraq holds their own election? No, not really. Do we NEED said nation to run our oil pipe through? YES.
RockDog. The falcon cannot hear the falconer. The center cannot hold, mere anarchy is loosed upon the world.
...they can find a billion dollars A DAY to spend in Iraq, yet they couldn't find it in their hearts to find 100 million dollars in the LAST TEN YEARS to fix the levee system...
Hermes - You make very good points. There are many unanswered, dodged and carelessly ignored questions that the American public is screaming out to the men/women on the Hill and yet, an honest or direct response is never uttered.
Professor batty makes a good point too and leads me to ask this- where is all our money going? How do they come up with it all? I am incredibly frustrated because I'm paying numerous amounts of money for taxes and who knows where my money goes? It's probably put into a huge fucking vault in the middle of an island off shore where Bush can pick and choose which global bank account to place it in. I myself might be funding a war that I don't believe in and yet I have no say and no knowledge. Justice? I think not.
Would it be so bad if one day we did not wake up to find ourselves a superpower? Would we then have time to then focus on our own internal domestic issues? By being number one in the world we have to understand that the whole world is looking to us for rescue and refuge. Global responsibility. Aggravating, but true. And yeah - no country is going to offer to help us. We're number one, we have fucking arrogant Cowboy running the show and a completely imbalanced political system. He's playing our political system like its a fucking game of risk. Command and conquer.
Through actions and careless spending I can easily see that the "decision makers" of this land of milk and honey will be the end of our own global reign. It will take time of course - but I know at least some of us can see the end if things don't change soon.
I can only nod. and applaud. I am but another imperceptible black head in the revolted crowd.
True incident:
Was walking out of McDonalds when one of those pesky sidewalk preachers stood on the corner and did his thing. Normally I tune these fuckers out, but as soon as the red faced screaming lunatic said, "Damnation and wrath of God! He destroyed New Orleans just like Soddom and Gammora! Repent!"
I hurled my Big Mac at him and hit him dead in the forehead.
"What the?!" He yelled. Several people stopped and looked.
"God said Shut Up!" And I walk away.
Goofy bastard.
What do you mean no country is going to offer to help you, Colonial?
We have. We've offered to send our two DART teams, each of which can create 150,000 gallons of purified water every 12 hours, who are stocked with medical and military teams that are trained to handle the most disastrous conditions. Each team of 30 or whatever many people can do the work of 150.
The French have offered. Germany has offered. The UN have offered.
And the US has not accepted any of it yet.
Why? Are they trying to hide the true cost of life from the public? Do they realize the errors of their ways?
I can't answer those questions.
Yes, the US has proved its arrogance beyond all costs in recent years... but tragedy is tragedy, and the world is big enough to put arrogance and petulance away in order to send help to those who need it: The Victims.
Make no mistake, it's not to appease the American government. It's because adversity, loss, horror, and tragedy are human conditions that know no nationality.
Pain is universal.
And so is anger, as we are now seeing in reaction to this inaction.
Sigh.
The Last Ditch.
true enough indeed. i like your site
Well, the Governator is going for President, didn't you know? Of course he'd fix it. Therein lies the path to the holy grail. Which Bush already won. Whatever.
Arnold can't run for president. Only an American-born citizen can.
(Since my last comment, I've found out that Condoleezza Rice has said the US will not turn down any offers of assistance, and the offers are immense, from around the globe, from Bosnian television stations trying to raise funds to Italian planes filled with equipment.)
Interesting. Good to know Steff. Thanks for the added information. I really appreciate it :)
I guess I just get overwhelmed with everything and react quickly. But thanks for the info and the insight. It helps me piece everything together.
There's still an awful lot of criticism of Bush internationally, plus fingers pointing at Bush's unwillingness to act on global warming, which scientists say is a leading factor in the upsurge of hurricanes in recent years, but at least they're willing to help.
I don't know how much press is being given to it, but even Fidel Castro called for a moment of silence in the government yesterday and has offered to send 1,100 doctors to the South to help.
So... yeah. Offers are coming from the most unlikeliest of places, despite the critcism and anger.
What I found really interesting were GERMAN newspapers talking about the horror of the afflicted being almost entirely black.
I bet a lot of people never thought there'd be a day when Germany would be criticising American racial politics.
What bothers me most is that NO ONE did what they needed to do to be prepared. Not the State of Louisiana, not the City of New Orleans, not the Federal Government, not the people. They had a week to prepare knowing that this storm was on its way and they did nothing. The people who could get out did, but the ones who couldn't or wouldn't were left to fend for themselves. I think the City of New Orleans is more to blame than the federal government because they didn't take care of their own. You can point blame in all directions. I gave my money to the Red Cross and as little as that seems it's something.
Thanks for the mention.
I'm glad you got as angree about this as I did.
angry...
lol
Hermes, what's this from:
The falcon cannot hear the falconer. The center cannot hold, mere anarchy is loosed upon the world.
Either way, yes the international community is offering help, but FEMA is turning away local and national outpourings to direct goods and services to "more needed" areas. They are being directed to evacuation points such as the superdome and etc. Where most of the desperate refugees cannot even reach. Helicopter rescues are great for tv, but when one figures more than an hour for six people, vs. the number of people that could be carried on a USMC LCAC (hovercraft), which are right offshore...
There is no reason so many should be suffering because of this storm. FEMA's mission is to curtail suffering in times like this, but they cannot even coordinate efforts, so how can they accomplish their mission. Not to mention the levee situation. "an ounce of prevention..." Well, a few hundred million invested in the levees might seem like a lot, until we're faced with tens of billions in clean up and reconstruction over the period of 10 years. hmmm... FEMA should have a hand in prevention, especially since it's now part of the D. of Homeland Security. (big brother?)
Professor Levy. Or a hundred dollars for a roll of toilet paper at the white house? It's not their money, it's ours.
Colonialave. I think it would be a good thing if one day this country found itself no longer a superpower. The age of imperialism, conquer and claim, is over... we'd be safe, and yes, we would be finally able to focus on internal affairs rather than policing the world.
Desolation Angel. Good man...except for one thing... You should have have included fries with that.
Steff. You're right... even the unlikeliest of countries have offered us aid... Cuba, Afghanistan??? The US hasn't accepted any of it due to "bureaucratic red tape."
Fuck those assholes, they need to put their ego and pride aside for once... Jesus!
Rae-Ann. A lot of these people are poor as shit and don't own cars... nor would they DREAM of leaving their homes... their possessions... their pets...only to return and find it stolen or destroyed. A lot of these people didn't have a fucking choice.
Darian. Hey thanks for swinging by and yes, Bush IS the American dream. He's failed in almost every respect - every business venture he's ever been involved in, yet he rides his dad's coattails and becomes president... leader of the free world... plus he's a good ol' boy and dag-gummitt the people like him.
Especially the rich, ignorant, and greedy.
Eric. FEMA has completely dropped the ball on this one. They have fucked up... majorly... and continue to fuck up. It's disgraceful.
Oh, it's from "the second coming" by WB Yeats.
Applause!
Post a Comment